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Symposium: Issues in RTVF (398-0-27)

Topic

Contemporary Television

Instructors

Aymar Christian Jean

Meeting Info

Frances Searle Building 2107: Thurs 3:00PM - 5:50PM

Overview of class

This course focuses on how the art and business of primetime television changed after the introduction of "new media," from cable to the Internet. Readings will explore production, storytelling, identity and distribution of TV and web entertainment. Students will watch, analyze and have the option to pitch or produce television. The goal of this course is to give students a deeper understanding of the complexity and ever-changing nature of a media business. Television is arguably the country's most powerful medium, foundational to American culture and history in the post-WWII era. At first tightly regulated and controlled, television has fragmented, its networks folded into conglomerations and its programs spread across dozens of channels. Throughout the semester students are encouraged to question how changes in television production, regulation and distribution affects programming, culture and politics at large.